Toy



Oct. 19, 1948. A, J, DUBEY 2,451,542

' TOY l Filed om. 15, 194s I s sneetssheet 2y Inventor oct. 19, 194s. A. J., DUBE v2,451,542

TOY

Filed Dec. 13, 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 In rentar Attorneys n Patented Oct. 19, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TOY,

Aimee J. Dubo, Troy, N. Y. Application Decernber 13, 1946, Serial No. 716,039

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a novel construction `of gravity actuated toy of extremely simple construction and which is capable of `being economically manufactured and sold and which will afford great lamusement to children.

trating a modified form of the rod or rail for use with the modifications oi Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7;

It is a primary object of the present invention to. provide a toy including a gravity propelled, preferably a wheeled vehicle disposed f-or movement along a rail by gravity and due to the inclination of the rail, which in its travel will engage a stop, carried by the rail for causing a resulting movement of the rail l'relatively .to the supports for the ends thereof and consequent movement of the ends of the rail in said supports for alternately positioning sai-d rail endsat different levels,

so that the wheeled vehicle will be caused to be moved back iand forth along the rail.

More particularly, it is an object of the invention to provide a toy wherein by lateral displacement of the rail due to the impact ofthe wheeled vehicle with stops thereof, said rail will loe caused to traverse a step by step downward displacement relatively to its' end supports rand in so moving the railv will be lalternately inclined in opposite directions.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a toy of the aforedescrilbed character and which is capable of being inverted so that the supporting rail may traverse a course in either direction of itsv end supports which, in either instance, will ybe in a downward direction..

Various other objects and 4advantages of the invention will hereinafter become more fully apparent from the Ifollowing description of the drawings, illustrating the preferred embodiment thereof, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of one embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 2--2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one end of the supporting rail or rod of the' toy;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view oi a slightly modied form of the embodiment of the invention as illustrated in Figures 1 to 3;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a porti-on of oneof the uprights and illustrating :a variation of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5, illustrating another variation of Figure 4,;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary perspective view illus# trating still ano-ther variation of Figure 4;

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 3V and illus- Figure 9 is a side elevational view of another embodiment yof the invention; f

Figure 10Yis a horizontal sectional view thereof taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line Ill-I0 oi Figure 9;

Figure 11 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken substantially along a plane as indicated .by the line II-II of Figure 9, and

Figure 12 is a horizontal sectional view .taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line l2I2 oi Figure 9.

Referring more speciiically to the'drawings, in the embodiment Iof the invention as illustrated in Figures 1 to 3, the toy, designated generally 13, includes a pair of uprights I4 and l5, each of which is channel-shaped in cross section, as seen in Figure 2, and which-are secured and spaced apart, in substantially parallel relationship by means of the end. members I6. The endmem-bers itv preferably comprised of substantially dat bars which 'are fastened adjacent their ends in any suitable manner .to the ends of the uprights M and I5 and which are provided with widened, substantial'ly T-shaped end portions I'I. The uprrights I4 and I5 and the end mem-bers IE combine to form the frame of the toy I3 which is adapted to be disposed in an upright position supported on either of the end members I6 as a base. It will be readily apparent that the laterally projecting endportions I1 will increase the wid-th of the portion i6, lfunctioning as a b-ase, to

` provide a stable support for the frame when in engagement with a supporting surf-ace suchas =a table, not shown.

The upright [4 is provided in the complementary sides I8 thereof with corresponding longitudinally extending outwardly bowed upper and lower slots I9 -and 20 which are disposed in spaced apart andend to end relationship. The adjacent ends of the complementary slots I 9' and 2i) of each side I8 are connected Iby an angular slotted portion 2l each of which includes an upwardly lfacing upper shoulder 22 having an outwardly facing free endand a downwardly and outwardly offset lower shoulder 23 which also yfaces upwardly and which opens inwardly. The upper end of each slot I9 opens into a transverse slot 24 forming an upwardly facing inwardly opening y shoulder 25. The `lower' end of each slot 20 opens into a slotted portion 2G having `an upwardly facing outwardly opening shoulder 21 at its upper end, an upwardly facing inwardly opening shoul- Vder 28, intermediate lofitsrends and outwardly offset with respect to the shoulder 21, and fan enlarged, substantially `circular lower end 29 provided with Ia restricted linwardly extending slot 30 opening into the inner edge of its side i3.

The sides 3| of the upright I5 are provided with upper and lower longitudinally extending outwardly bowed slots 32 and 33, respectively, corresponding substantially to the slots I5 and but offset downwardly somewhat with respect thereto, when the uprights I4 and I5 are in the position as seen in Figure 1. The adjacent ends of the complementary slots 32 and 33 are connected by a portion 34 corresponding to the slotted portion 2| and including the upwardly facing shoulders 35 and 35 corresponding to the shoulders 22 and 23, respectively. As seen in Figure 1, the portion 34 is located below the level of the portion 2|. The upper end of each slot 32 communicates with an angular slotted portion 31, located below the level of the transverse slotted portion 24 and which includes an upper, upwardly facing and outwardly opening shoulder 38 and a lower, outwardly offset upwardly facing and inwardly opening shoulder 39. The lower end of each slot 33 communicates with a slotted portion 40, corresponding to the slotted portion 25 and including shoulders 4| and 42, corresponding to the shoulders 21 and 28, respectively, and a portion 43 having a passage 44, corresponding to the portion 29 and its passage 38.

The sides I8 and 3|, over the slotted portions 24, 25, 31 and 45 are provided with cover plates 45 suitably secured to the outer sides thereof and having portions, overlying said slotted portions, bowed outwardly and away from said sides as clearly illustrated in Figure 2.

A rod 4'5 forming a rail for a wheeled vehicle 41 is provided with transversely disposed crossheads 48 at the ends thereof adapted to be disposed in the channels of the uprights I4 and I5, as seen in Figure 2, and with the terminal portions of the crossheads engaging slots of the' sides ofV said uprights. In its initial position, the rod 45 is disposed as seen in Figure 1 with the ends of one of the crossheads 48 resting on the shoulders 25 and the ends of the other crosshead 48 resting on the shoulders 38. The rod 46 is also provided adjacent its ends with substantially upright cross members 49 forming stops, between which the wheeled vehicle 41 is movable on said rod 45. The wheeled vehicle 41 will preferably assume the embodiment of a unicycle, as seen in Figure 11, having a grooved wheel for engagement with the rod 45, as seen at 50, which is journalled in the axle of a support 5| one leg of which is extended downwardly and offset inwardly to position a weight 52 directly beneath the plane of the wheel 50. As seen in Figure 1, the upper end of the support 5| is preferably provided with a saddle on which a figure 53 of any desired simulation may be disposed.

The weight 52 maintains the wheeled vehicle 41 in its upright position of Figure 1 and it willV be readily apparent that the inclined position of the rod 45'will cause the vehicle 41 to travel from left to right of Figure 1 until the wheel 55 strikes the right hand stop 49. This impact will cause the rod 45 to be displaced from left to right of Figure 1 thereby disengaging the crossheads 48 from the shoulders l25 and 33. The right hand crosshead 4B will drop `onto the shoulder 39 and the left hand crosshead 38 will slide down the arcuate slot I3 onto the shoulders 22, as seen in dotted lines in Figure 1. The rod 45 thus positioned, will be inclined in the opposite direction sc that the vehicle 41 will travel backward or from right to left until its wheel 50 strikes the left hand stop 49 thereby displacing the rod 45 toward the left yand so that its left hand crosshead 45 will drop onto the shoulders 23 and the right hand crosshead 48 will slide down the slots 32 and onto the shoulders 35. After the vehicle 41 has traversed the rod again from left to right and said rod has been displaced again toward the right, the left hand crosshead 48 will move down the slots 25 onto the shoulders 21 and the right hand crosshead 48 will be in position on the shoulders 35 to repeat the movement of the vehicle and rod in the opposite direction. This will cause the left hand crosshead 48 to drop onto the shoulders 28 and the right hand crosshead to slide down the slots 33 and onto the shoulders 4 I. rIhe vehicle 41 will then move again from left to right and displace the rod 45 to the right so that the left hand crosshead 48 will drop into the slotted openings 29 and the right hand crosshead will come to rest on the shoulders 42. The rod 45 may then be disengaged from the uprights through the movement of the crosshead 48 outwardly of the passages 30 and 44 or the uprights may be inverted and supported by the other end member I5. The rod 45 is removed only in the event that it is desired to make some adjustment to the toy and the normal operation is to invert the uprights.

After inverting the uprights, one of the crossheads 45 is positioned on the then upwardly facing shoulders 54 of the upright I4 and the other crosshead 48 is positioned on' the then upwardly facing shoulders 55 of the upright I5. It will be readily apparent that the Wheeled vehicle 41 can then repeat the previously described operation as the ends of the rods 45 move alternately and intermittently toward the opposite ends of the uprights I4 and l5.

A modification of the embodiment of Figures 1 to 3 is illustrated in Figure 4 wherein one of the uprights 151. is shown provided with spaced inwardly opening notches 55 in the sides thereof and it will be readily obvious that the other upright, not shown, will be provided with similarly disposed notches, not shown, arranged at slightly higher levels. Associated with each notch 55 is an arm 51 having an upper portion secured to the outer side of the upright |51, above the adjacent notch 55 and extending inwardly and being offset outwardly therefrom. Each arm 51 terminates in a downwardly extending portion 58, spaced inwardly from its associated notch 55 and provided with an inwardly extending supporting arm 59. A bracket 51, 58 and 59 is associated with each of the upper notches 55. The intermediate notches 55 of the uprights |51 are each provided with a, bracket including an outwardly bowed arm 50 fastened to the upright |51 and having a longitudinal portion 5| spaced from its associated notch 55 and provided with an inwardly extending intermediate arm 52. The lower notches 55 of the upright I51 each have a bracket associated therewith including a. supporting arm 53 which is bowed outwardly and secured at one end to the upright I51 and which is provided with a transversely disposed opposite end 54 the lower end of which terminates in the inwardly extending portion 55.

The rod 451 differs from the rod 45 in that it is provided with an extension at each end thereof beyond each of its .crossheads 481, said extensions being designated 55 and extending into the channels of the uprights. With the upright |51 in its position of Figure 4 one of the crossheads 481 is initiallyA positioned on the bracket arm 59 and is displaced to the righttherefrom by the wheeled vehicle striking the right hand stop 491. Said crossarm 481 is thereby displaced downwardly into the notches 515 to rest on the lower edges thereof'. When the rod 461 is next displaced to the left, said right hand crossarm 481 will slide down the inner concave edges 61 onto the arms 62 and will thereafter slide down the edges 68 onto the arms B5. The other upright, not shown, will correspond to the upright |51 as it would appear in an inverted position, so that a description of the movement of the aforementioned end of the rod 461 in the opposite direction on the inverted upright |51 will describe the movement of the opposite end ofthe rod 461 in the initial movements of the rod 461, as previously described. Assuming that the upright |51 is inverted, the crossarm 481 will rest on the shoulder 69 and when displaced to thel right will slide down the edges 68 onto the supporting arm 62. When next displaced to the left, said crossarm 481 will drop into the notches 56 and come to rest on the then bottom edges thereof and when again displaced to the right will slide down the edges 51 and onto the supporting arms 59.

The brackets 18', as illustrated in Figure 5, may be substituted for the brackets 51, 58, 58 and differ therefrom only in that the arms 511 thereof are inclined downwardly away from their secured ends. The brackets 1 of Figure 6 differ from the brackets 60, 5| and 62 inV that the brackets 1| are formed of substantially flat metal stock whereas the aforedescribed brackets are of metal of substantially circular cross section. The brackets 12 of Figure '7 may be substituted for the brackets 63, 64 and 65 and likewise are formed of flat instead of circular stock and differ therefrom in that the brackets 12 include uprightportions 13', corresponding to the portions 64 and having a supporting a-rm 14', one end of which performs the function of the arm E5, the other end of which is secured to the upright |51. intermediate portion of the arm 14 is bent outwardly with respect to the adjacent side of the upright |51,

Another form of the invention is shown in Figures 9 to 12 and includes a base 10 forming a support for two spaced uprights 1| and 12. The base is provided with T-shaped ends forming lateral extensions 13 corresponding to the extensions |1 of the bases l5. The uprights 1| and 12 are each formed from a substantially flat bar which are connected adjacent their upper ends by a crossbar 14, forming a brace, which is laterally oiset relatively to the uprights 1| and 12, as seen in Figure 10 and so as not to interfere with the movement of the wheeled vehicle 41. The upright 1| is taller than the upright 12 and is provided with a longitudinal slot, designated generally 15, which is substantially identical toY either of the slotted sides of the upright I4 except that the circular lower portion thereof is not provided with an inwardly opening passage similar to the passage 38. The upright 12 is provided with a slotted portion, designated generally 16, corresponding substantially to the slotted portion of either of the sides of the upright I5 except that its cir-cular lower portion is likewise not provided with a passage, such as the passage .Y 44. The toy as illustrated in Figures 9 to 12 also includes a rodv 11 forming a rail for the wheeledy toy 41, which corresponds with the wheeled toy The ofy 1.V The rod 11 is provided with stops 18, similarly disposed and for the same purpose as the stops 49 and therebeyond is provided with laterally oii'set portions 19 which are adapted to be disposed along complementary sides of the uprights 1j' andv 12 and which terminate in inturned portions 80, as seen in Figure 12, for engagement with the slotted portions 15 and 16. The portions likewise terminate in enlarged heads 8| which engage the opposite sides of the uprights 1| and 12 to the sides thereof, adjacent to which the portions 19 are disposed, and by means of which the rod 11 is retained detachably connected to theuprights 1| and 12. The heads 8| are passable through the openings 82 forming the enlarged lower ends of the slotted portions 15 and 16.

With the rod 11 applied and disposed at the upper ends of the slotted portions 15 and 16, one of the rod portions 38' rests on the upwardly facing shoulder of'portion 15 and the other rod portion Sii rests on the upwardly facing shoulder 84 of portion 11i. The lateral displacement and also the lsliding movement of the ends of the rod 11 will be readily obvious from the previous description of the operation of the toy i3 and therefore to repeat the description is considered unneccessary. The rod 11, after the end portions 88 thereof are in engagement with the slotted portions 82, may either be detached from the uprights or moved back upwardly through the slotted portions 15 and 16 to position the rod 11 in its position of Figure 9 and so that the gravitational propulsion of the wheeled vehicle 41 can then be repeated.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to, without department fro-m the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a toy of the character described, a base, a pair of uprights secured thereto and rising therefrom in substantially parallel relationship, said uprights having longitudinally disposed slotted portions including arcuate longitudinal sections Vand upwardly facing shoulders, a rod having transverse portions for slidably engaging said slotted portions of the uprights and constructed and arranged to rest on said upwardly facing shoulders and to slide relatively to said arcuate portions in response to intermittent oscillatory movement of opposite ends of said rod, a wheeled vehicle adapted to be propelled by gravity from adjacent one end to adjacent the opposite end of said rod, and said rod having stops forming abutments for the Wheeled vehicle by the impact of which said rod is laterally displaced relatively to the uprights and thereby caused to oscillate and slide relatively to the slotted portions of said uprights for positioning the opposite ends of the rod alternately in elevated position whereby said vehicle will be caused to move alternately from end to end of the rod.

2. A toy as in claim 1, said uprights being channel shaped and having complementary parallel sides provided with complementary slotted portions, and said rod having crossarms at its ends for engagement with the complementary slotted portions.

3, A toy as in claim 1, said uprights each being formed of a substantially flat bar, said rod having complementary inturned end portions extending through the slotted portions of the uprights, and said inturned rod portions having heads of a width greater than the width of said slotted portions.

4. In a toy of the character described, a pair of spaced uprights having a plurali-ty of upwardly facing shoulders, a rod disposed between said uprights and having portions for engagement with said shoulders, a gravitationally propelled Vehicle mounted for movement in either direction along said rod, and said rod being provided with stop portions adjacent its ends forming abutments for said vehicle, said rod being adapted to be initially disposed at an incline whereby said vehicle will be gravitationally propelled toward the lower end thereof and into engagement with the stop, disposed adjacent said end, for laterally displacing said rod in response to the impact of the engagement of the vehicle with said stop, and said shoulders being constructed and arranged whereby when the rod is thus displaced the lower end thereof will drop onto another upwardly facing shoulder and the upper end thereof will swing downwardly on said last mentioned shoulder as a pivot and into a, position below the level of the previously disposed, lower end of the rod, so that said vehicle will be `gravitationally propelled toward the stop at the opposite end of the rod causing a repetition of the displacement of the 8 rod and the dropping and swinging movement thereof.

5. A toy as in claim 4, certain `of said upwardly facing shoulders being formed integral with the uprights, and brackets supported by the uprights and having portions forming other of the upwardly facing shoulders. y

6. A toy as in claim 4, and crossheads connected to the complementary ends of said uprights, each of said crossheads forming a .base for supporting the uprights and whereby the uprights may be inverted to permit movement of the rod downwardly in response to the action of the gravitationally propelled vehicle in either direction with respect to the uprights.

'7. A toy as in claim 4, said gravitationally propolled vehicle including a fork, a wheel journalled therein and adapted to engage said rod, and an arm depending from one side of said fork and having an offset lower portion provided with a weight disposed with its axis in alignment with the plane of the wheel for maintaining the vehicle in an upright position on said rod.

AIMEE J. DUBE.

No references cited. 

